What Kind of Drug is Lortab?

Lortab is an opioid pain reliever that combines the opioid hydrocodone bitartrate with acetaminophen, the pain-fighting component of Tylenol. This drug is prescribed for moderate to moderately severe levels of pain.

Because it’s an opioid-based painkiller, Lortab has great potential for abuse and addiction. Opioids come with a high likelihood of dependence and are habit-forming. You might be like the many people who started taking Lortab for pain and unexpectedly find they are addicted to the drug. Or it’s possible that you began using Lortab without a prescription, whether for recreational purposes or after switching to it from a different opioid prescription.

Whatever path led you to addiction, you may now find yourself trapped by the dependency and behavioral changes that addiction has caused in your life. As is characteristic of addiction, your substance use has probably created various problems for you, such as health and financial problems. A treatment program can help you stop this decline and change the direction of your life.

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The Addictive Qualities of Lortab

Lortab can lead to tolerance, meaning you need more of the medication than you were previously taking to get the same effects. The problem is that, when you continue to take more of the drug, you increase your chance of becoming dependent and addicted to this opioid-based substance.

Opioids cause you to become dependent, because your brain and body adjust to their presence in your system. Part of what happens—when you continue to take them or take them in high doses—is that your brain responds to the opioids by releasing the chemical dopamine, which is associated with pleasure, reward and other processes. If you’re brain gets completely accustomed to releasing dopamine when given opioids, it will stop releasing dopamine on its own. Now your brain is telling you to continue taking opioids in order to have dopamine released, and if you stop you are likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. In the case of Lortab, these symptoms could include anxiety and depression, stomach cramps and vomiting, chills and many other unpleasant effects.

It’s also possible for you to develop an addiction to Lortab. This means that you change your behaviors to reflect the use of opioids. The main sign of addiction is that even though the drug use leads to problems in your life, you don’t stop using it. If this sounds like your situation, a treatment professional can help you figure out if you have an addiction.

Unfortunately, opioid addictions often progress. Many people begin with a prescription for a medication and then switch to higher doses and more powerful types of opioid painkillers. It’s also common for people to begin taking heroin, which is also in the opioid class of drugs.

It’s important to know that Lortab comes with other risks in addition to tolerance, dependence and addiction. It has the potential for a variety of side effects, including dizziness and nausea. It’s also possible to overdose on this medication.

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Treatment for Lortab Use

Quitting the use of Lortab can help you reduce your risk of side effects, overdose and addiction—or address an addiction you already have. Professionals at a treatment center can assess you for an addiction and provide a treatment plan to address your situation.

For opioid use, it can be beneficial to start treatment with a detoxification program. This process may encourage you to taper off the drug and/or use medication to manage withdrawal symptoms. You would also receive medical monitoring to ensure that you are safe and comfortable as you go through the withdrawal process.

Treatment does not stop with detox but should continue with a rehab program. This is when you are able to consider whether there were factors in your life that made you more susceptible to addiction. You can work on these contributing factors through therapy and learn skills to keep you away from addiction in the future. Quality programs address co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, because if these are left untreated they can contribute to relapse and the recurrence of addiction symptoms.

An Individualized Treatment Approach

At Transformations Treatment Center, we provide detoxification through our Summit Detox facility, as well as rehab programs. We help you through the entire process of overcoming withdrawal and working on the different components of your addiction. Our programs take a holistic approach, to make sure we uncover everything in your life that’s contributing to addiction to best help you move forward.

Our treatment center provides a variety of options so we can fit your lifestyle. We will individualize your care based on our different tracks and levels. Depending on your needs, we would suggest one of our program choices, which include outpatient programs, an intensive outpatient program and partial hospitalization. We also offer housing options based on our different programs.

When you have completed one of our rehab programs, we will engage with you through our aftercare program. This helps us stay connected so we can continue to encourage and empower you as you go forward with your new life of recovery.

If your Lortab use has become a problem in your life, treatment can help. It’s possible for you to move away from opioid use disorder—and the associated problems it creates in your life—and move toward a healthier life free of dependency and addictive behaviors. Contact us at Transformations Treatment Center to learn more.